1842. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



.355 



with the same large brush, but with water only, he began to soften and 

 unite the colours already laid on. Observe, he had not as yet used any tint 

 thicker than a wash of water colour, and be continued to darken in the 

 shndows without increasing the force or depth of colour. This I before 

 noted to you, that you can strengthen by the simple repetition of tint, but 

 if the day be very dry, after an hour or two this process of repeating with 

 the same tint produces an opposite effect, and instead of drying darker, it 

 actually dries lighter. [See this explanation in the conimunieation by Pro- 

 fessor Hess.] I now observed that the painter had increased the number of 

 his tints, and that they were of a much thicker consistence, and he now 

 began to paint in the lights with a greater body of colour, softening them 

 into the shades with a dry brush, or with one a little wet as he required. 

 In drying, the water comes to the surface, and actually falls off in drops, 

 but this does no harm whatever to the work although it sometimes looks 

 alarming." 



Mr. C. Wilson observes that the Aurora of Guido in the Rospigliosi pa- 

 lace in Rome was painted on a copper trellis, and afterwards fi.xed on the 

 ceiling where it still exists. He adds that this fresco was offered for sale 

 about fifteen years since, and that its safe removal was guaranteed. Mr. W. 

 Thomas states that some small (landscape) frescos by Professor Rottman, in 

 the Hofgarten in Munich, were painted on an iron fjame and wire-work, and 

 fixed in their situation afterwards. The example of Guido's Aurora, the 

 figures of which are larger than life, shows that it would be possible to 

 prepare movable frescos for situations where this might be thought neces- 

 sary ; for example, before flues or tubes in walls. But it is to be remarked 

 that flues behind frescos have generally injured them. Mr. Aglio, who 

 painted some frescos at Manchester some years since, attributes the great 

 alteration of the colours in them partly to this circumstonce ; but also to 

 his having been supplied with lime that was much too fresh. Cavaliere Ag- 

 ricola, in examining the frescos of the Vatican, found that the " Heliodorus " 

 had suffered considerably from a flue behind it. The plaster had been de- 

 tached from the wall, and projected in some places nearly four inches : it 

 had been secured with nails, and the cracks had been filled with some com- 

 position by Carlo Marotti in 1702. The fresco of the "Defeat of the 

 Saracens at Ostia " has been injured in like manner by a chimney behind it. 



Detaching frescos from the wall — In connexion with the subject of move- 

 able frescos it may be observed that the operation of detaching the mere 

 painting from the wall, almost independently of the plaster, has been often 

 practised with success. Although less immediately connected with the pre- 

 sent inquiry, it is desirable to make this process known, as, in repairing 

 churches and other buildings in England, many ancient paintings on plaster 

 have been destroyed, from ignorance as to the means of removing them. 

 Mr. Ludwig Gruner gives the following account of the mode in which he 

 detached some frescos at Brescia in 1829. The convent of St. Eufemia in 

 that city was then undergoing repair, and the excellent frescos it contained, 

 painted by Lattanzio Gambara in the 16th century, would have been de- 

 stroyed, when Mr. Gruner succeeded, with the assistance of some expert 

 Italians, in removing them from the walls. The mode they adopted was 

 first to clean the wall perfectly : then to pass a strong glue over the surface, 

 and by this means to fasten a sheet of fine ealico on it. The caUco, after 

 having been rivited to the irregularities of the wall, was afterwards covered 

 with glue in like manner, and on it was fastened common strong linen. In 

 this state heat was applied, which caused the glue even on the fresco to 

 sweat through the clothes, and to incorporate the whole. After this a third 

 layer of strong cloth was applied on a new coat of glue. The whole re- 

 mained in this state two or three days, (the time required may vary according 

 to the heat of the weather). The superflous cloth extending beyond the 

 painting was now cut off so as to leave a sharp edge : the operation of 

 stripping or rolUng off the cloth began at the corners above and below, till 

 at last the mere weight of the cloth and what adhered to it assisted to de- 

 tach the whole, and the wall behind appeared white, while every particle of 

 colour remained attached to the cloth. This operation shows that the 

 colours in fresco do not penetrate very deeply : the layer of pigment and 

 lime which was detached in this instance was extremely thin, the outlines 

 and even the colours of masses were visible at the back of the cloth. It is 

 the opinion of some of the Munich professors that frescos thinly painted are 

 least liable to change ; the example just given, exemplifying as it does the 

 practice of a skilful Italian fresco painter, seems to confirm this, but in 

 many instances the surface of frescos even by the older masters is solidly 

 painted. To transfer the painting again to cloth, in completing the ope- 

 ration above described, a stronger glue is used which resists moisture, it 

 being necessary to detach the cloths first used, by tepid water, after the back 

 of the painting is fastened to its new bed. 



The frescos by Paul Veronese, in the Morosini Villa, near Castel Franco, 

 were removed by Count Balbi of Venice, a few years since : he fastened 

 cloth to the wall with a paste composed of beer and flour, and rivetted it to 

 the irregularities of the surface by means of a hammer composed of 

 bristles. Several of these works when re-transferred to canvass were sold in 

 England in 1838. The operation of removing frescos has been lately per- 

 formed with success in Florence and elsewhere.* 



* The following publications may be consulted tor further information on 

 this subject: Leopoldo Cicognara, Del dislacco delle pitturea fresco. Arti- 

 colo cstratto dall' Aetologia di Firenze, 182-3, Vol. 18, num. 52.— Girolamo 

 Baruffaldi. Vita di Antonio Conlri, pittore e rilevatore di pitture dal muro. 

 Venczia, 1834.— Cenni sopra diverse pitture staccate dal muro e trasportate 

 sutella, &c. Bologna, 1840. . ,.i S.-.-: 



LAST DAY OF WILKIE'S EXHIBITION AT THE BRITISH 

 GALLERY. 



Sm— Do you admit gossip as a relief to Science? if so, the fol- 

 lowing reminiscences may amuse your readers. 



B. R. H. 



An exhibition of the best works of a great artist after he is dead, 

 at our British Gallery, is the last tolling of his funeral bell ; — the last 

 etTort of those who respected liis character, and wish to put the seal 

 upon his fame — before leaving both to the unbiassed and sifting deci- 

 sion of a future generation. How must the artist and the public have 

 been indebted to the British Gallery .'—how much the public taste has 

 been solidly advanced by its various exhibitions of fine works ! — what 

 good has been done — what knowledge has been indirectly inculcated; 

 how greatly the standard of excellence in the country has been raised, 

 since these May displays began: what a study it is to look forward 

 to ; — now we have the majestic cartoons, then the crimson splendour, 

 and golden tones of Titian ; now the pearly glitter of Veronese, then 

 the startling dash of Tintoretto : at one time the gorgeous glory of 

 Rubens, and mysterious depth of Rembrandt, at another the sunny 

 loveliness of Claude, and savage poetry of Salvator; sometimes we 

 are enchanted by Corregio, or instructed by Poussin ; and then came 

 the modern school ; Reynolds who might fear comparison with none 

 for grace, for character, for taste, for touch, for gemmy surface, in 

 portrait, for the quivering sweetness of children, and who was equal 

 to all and often superior to all, in the splendid depth and keeping of 

 a back ground. 



Gainsborough, with his sketchy richness, followed Hogarth with his 

 blunt touch and bitter satire, and this year we have had David Wilkie, 

 with his sound sense, his perspicuous conception, his beautiful compo- 

 sition, his natural expression, and his unafTected drawing ; the founder 

 of our domestic school. 



In musing on the whole of Wilkie's works, from the earliest to the 

 latest, there is the same sterling sagacity, and sense ; the story, the 

 expression, the composition, never vary in intelligence or power. 



His incessant changes of practice, had something approaching to a 

 feeble hallucination of intellectual power; why a man so consistent, 

 and persevering, so unalterable and honest in one mode of conduct, 

 morally which founded his domestic fortune, should be so vacillating 

 and uncertain, so childish and changing, so furious in the morning at 

 the discovery of the previous evening, and so disgusted the next day 

 at what he thought such a philosopher's stone the day before, is not 

 to be accounted for, but from some inherent imbecility. 



The gem of this collection, without prejudice to others, is the card 

 players, and here his practice was perfect — this is a work, in point of 

 vigour, depth, daylight, tone, strength, touch, expression, finish, com- 

 pleteness, and life, no picture of the Dutch school, by Teniers, ever 

 surpassed it in execution, whilst in point of story and sense, no picture 

 by Teniers ever approached it. 



I can tell the artist why this work is so extraordinary in power. 



1st, It is the only picture he prepared for ultimate glazing. 



Glazing softens and flattens, and if a picture to be glazed be not 

 painted sharper in touch than nature, it will be flatter than nature 

 when glazed. 



2nd. He never lost sight of his ground in his deepest shadows, and 

 finished his darks under the table and elsewhere by repeated thin 

 glazings over each other — the ground always showing through. 



Thus, in very early life, he bit on the system of Teniers, he hit on 

 the principle of the Venetian, Flemish and Dutch schools, though 

 scumbling is more applicable to the two latter, as an ultimate re- 

 source, and nothing could be so self-evident as the superiority of the 

 picture or vigour, in spite of his greatest work, (the Duke's Chelsea 

 Pensioners) and his Murray Group in Knox, one of tlie finest groups 

 for everything in art the world can show. 



In his early work, he ruined all color, by a heavy intermixture of a 

 heavy and hot yellow tint in every portion of his work — with the 

 single exception of a little picture he painted in Edinburgh, belonging 

 to Dr. Darling, of the Village Politicians ; at the repeated entreaty of 

 the late Sir George Beaumont, of Jackson and myself, he tried flesh 

 without it, and the right hand of the Blind-fiddler was his first at- 

 tempt ; yet it must be acknowledged he had no eye for colour, if he 

 had had, he would have known when he had produced a fine tint, 

 which he certainly did not, for after producing a fine tone, you are as 

 likely to find it ruined the next day ; not like Sir Joshua, because he 

 was longing for something richer, but because Wilkie's eye was never 

 satisfied till he got some other tone, not so rich. 



The nonsense which has been written about him this season, is 



3 D 2 



